1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a target drone for a weapons system and more particularly to a lightweight, inexpensive target drone which minimizes danger to personnel and/or damage on impact.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is important that weapons crews have realistic training exercises in order to meet combat readiness performance levels. Since the need for these skills may occur precipitously it is necessary to provide constant realistic training exercises so that weapons crews achieve and retain the requisite skills.
Weapons used as anti-missiles or anti-aircraft devices, either on ships or land have used a variety of targets to train their crews. One simple target is a banner towed by a non-target aircraft. Unfortunately, this is not a realistic target since it doesn't approach the weapon position realistically, i.e., safety considerations dictate that the banner cannot converge on the weapons platform. Even so, there is some danger for the pilot of the tow-aircraft.
Current weapons sytems, such as the Phalanx system are radar and computer controlled to ignore non-threatening targets, i.e., targets which are not on a converging course with the weapons platform. Accordingly, it is necessary to fly a target directly at the weapons platform rather than near it in order for such systems to become active. A drone currently used for that purpose is a BQM-74 which uses a jet engine and fuel and weighs approximately 400 pounds. If this drone flies parallel to the hereinabove described type of weapons system, it is ignored. If it flies at the weapons platform, it presents a serious danger to the weapon crew due to fire and impact hazards. In fact, one person was killed in just such an accident when a BQM-74 drone impacted his ship during training exercises on board the U.S.S. Antrium in February 1982. In addition to safety considerations, each BQM-74 drone costs over $130,000 apiece and hence is too expensive to be used very often.
Other target vehicles have been devised which have been formed of foamed plastic material or other lightweight material, such as are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,699,891 and 3,687,398. A foamed plastic body is formed around an aluminum rod in 3,699,891 to give structural strength to the rocket and support the rocket motor. A nose cone of cast iron is added to the front of the rocket as ballast material. While this device may be used as a target, it can't be used in a realistic approach to the weapon position because of its heavy mass and weapon-like construction. The aluminum road and cast iron nose cone would become lethal projectiles upon impact as would other solid parts of the device. Also, the plastic does not crush upon impact to absorb any of the kinetic energy of the target vehicle. Thus, this type of target is not considered suitable for realistic approaches, that is, convergent approaches upon the weapons platform.
Another target device shown is U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,398. This device flies apart into several pieces upon impact with the weapons platform. The nose cone is made of an elastic material to absorb some of the impact. This device has no guidance system and only follows a ballistic path toward the target. Thus, it does not always function as a realistic target and converge upon the weapon platform as is necessary. Furthermore, instead of crushing on impact, its constituent pieces fly off, increasing the danger to the weapons platform and personnel due to flying pieces. Accordingly also, this device is not considered suitable as a target drone for these weapons.